Roses are Overrated
by fegs
Summary: "Basically, Kari contradicted herself in every aspect. And TK was fascinated by that."


Alrighty! So, this is something I've written for a prompt challenge hosted by Berrie Salamander. It's interesting and pretty fun, so I highly encourage you guys to check it out!

As you've already guessed, for the prompt challenge I picked Takari as my pairing and the prompt was 'Roses are overrated.' I'm not going to lie, it was easy to come up with an idea but actually writing it was really difficult because I've never done this couple before. This is the first Takari I've ever written and only the second Digimon fic I've ever posted, so please be gentle with me. Like 99.9% of the Digimon fandom, I love Takari and am disgusted that they were never made canon.

So please enjoy and I love feedback!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Digimon.

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><p><strong>Roses are Overrated<strong>

"What's got you so down in the dumps?"

TK looked up at that question to the perky brunette who had asked it.

He admitted, while having Mimi around was a joy, her presence was sometimes irritating. Being the happy and bubbly person that she was, she had managed to work up a sixth sense that, well, sensed when someone was anything _but _happy and bubbly. No matter how good you were at hiding your feelings, Mimi was the one person who could read your dismay like an open book.

"Uhh…nothing." He answered, thinking that maybe he could get out of having to talk.

"Don't lie to me, TK."

No such hope.

Sighing, TK leaned forward in his chair. He was so thankful the others hadn't arrived yet so his personal problems would remain somewhat personal.

"Someone got Kari roses the other day." He didn't know how to say it without sounding like a pathetic, love struck boy. Normally, trivial things such as Kari receiving roses wouldn't phase him, but considering they were from one of their school's most eligible bachelor's, he couldn't avoid being a little shook up.

A sudden fear washed over Mimi's face as her eyes grew wide. "For no reason?" When TK nodded, she continued in a horrified voice. "Oh, TK! You have got to step up your game! Gifts for no reason are a girl's dream!"

Really? He hardly believed that but then again, Kari had looked pretty happy on top of her surprise to have Colin hand her the red bouquet. And if anyone knew about what girls liked, it was Mimi.

Anyone who knew TK knew that he wasn't the type to go all out on his emotions. His feelings for Kari were there, but elaborating on them just wasn't something that appealed to him. If feelings were meant to come out, they'd come out one way or another. So what was the use in stressing over it?

"So, you want to get her something to win her heart?" Mimi snapped him back to reality.

"What? No!" TK quickly defended himself.

Typical Mimi, ever the hopeless romantic. Still, it was a bit of a shock to hear the world's biggest feminist refer to Kari's heart as a prize.

"Then why are you pouring your problems all over me?"

"Because you asked?"

Mimi was a great friend, no doubt about it, but sometimes it was hard not to question her sanity.

She cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrows at him expectantly. "TK, if it's really bothering you just go get her something nice. It's Kari, she'll love anything that's from you."

Getting Kari a gift was definitely something that had crossed his mind after hearing that she had received flowers from one of the school's most eligible seniors, but TK found it difficult as to what to get her. It wasn't like he had never bought her a gift before. He gave her things for Christmas and her birthday, but now he was looking for a gift to give her for no reason. And man, was it tough. He could go with a necklace, but that was about as cheesy as you could get. Roses weren't even a possibility anymore because not only did Colin get them for her, but they lacked originality. Seriously, what people found so great about them was a mystery to him. They're great when they're first given but end up dieing two weeks after being on display anyways, so what was the point?

"Sup TD?"

"Huh?" So lost in his thoughts, TK hadn't even realized that Yolei and Davis had finally made it and joined them at the café table.

"Talk about zoning out…" Yolei commented.

"Sorry," he said before greeting his friends and turning to eye Mimi. Silently, he warned her not to say a word about their conversation. The last thing he needed was Davis spewing out stupid ideas for a gift.

… …

School assemblies had to be the best thing ever to happen during the day. There was nothing more relaxing than kicking back and not listening to whoever was speaking, instead zoning off into your own little world. Oh, and the whole missing class thing was an added bonus.

"Smile!" Kari hit the click button on her camera as the rest of the students filed into the gymnasium prior to the assembly.

"Ahh!" TK threw a hand over his eyes, but it failed to counter the lights he saw after the flash.

Kari giggled and TK threw her a menacing look.

"Do you ever put that thing down?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, "No." Kari tilted her head curiously while fiddling with her camera, looking cute without even realizing it. Sometimes TK wondered if she knew how he felt, and she did cute things like that just to toy with him. "Are we still hanging out after school today?"

Oh yeah. TK had forgotten about that. After departing the café yesterday, Mimi had so kindly offered to walk with him home and convinced him that he needed to buy Kari a gift _stat. _So he settled on after school today.

TK bit his tongue to stop himself from telling Kari the real reason he wouldn't be able to make it to their plans. "Uh…sorry. I forgot and promised my Mom I would run some errands with her."

Kari looked up at him, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. She knew him too well, clearly seeing straight through his lie. Still, she offered him a smile before dropping the subject, "Okay. Tomorrow then."

Kari was confusing, to say the least. She was one of the brightest people TK had ever met. She was like Matt, his brother, in that she could read anyone she wanted and know exactly what was going through their mind. Why was this confusing? Because, of all the people and thoughts she could read at a glance, TK was sure that she had remained clueless about his lingering feelings for her.

She was unique, different from all the other girls and that was exactly what TK was drawn to her for. She was strong with her emotions, but didn't hesitate to show compassion to those in need and always felt guilty for things that weren't even her fault. She was shy but so strongly opinionated that when the rare occasion showed itself, she could argue with someone for hours. She refused to go along with school trends, instead dressing how she wanted and she refused to, unlike the rest of the female population, carry a purse because she was always on the go and over the shoulder purses just got in the way. Basically, Kari contradicted herself in every aspect.

And TK was fascinated by that.

The peer counsellor headed up to the center of the gym and began talking about something that really didn't appeal to TK…or the rest of the student body. Everyone continued in their mindless chatter while the counsellor struggled to grab hold of the attention.

TK felt a light tap on his shoulder and spun in his seat to see a petite blonde girl looking at him.

"I dropped my phone," she said, pointing to a spot by TK on the floor. "Could you pick it up for me?"

He looked to the floor where the girl was pointing and reached forward to grab it, but found his reach wasn't quite long enough. He elbowed Kari lightly and gestured to the phone, which was much closer to her reach.

"Hold this," she handed TK her camera and leaned over to pick up the girl's phone.

It was a strange time for TK's epiphany to hit him, and what was even stranger was what his epiphany held. Holding Kari's camera in his hands, he suddenly knew what would be the perfect gift for her.

… …

TK sat quietly, unsure of what this silence meant. Maybe he should have come to the girls before actually going out and buying the gift.

Across from him, Mimi, Sora and Yolei were staring wide eyed at the fanny pack wrapped in tissue paper.

"A fanny pack? You got her a fanny pack?" Yolei asked, not sounding snide or judgmental. Despite her choice of wording, she sounded awestruck.

"Well, Kari doesn't use purses so she never has anywhere to put her stuff. So I figured since this just straps around a girl's waist, then she never has to go through the trouble of really carrying anything."

"Like what?"

"Like her camera," he replied proudly and quite thankful of the camera that had blessed him with this idea.

Again, the girls had fallen into one of their silences. It was like they were sending secret messages with their universal girl language that, to any guy's misfortune, involved no talking.

"I think she'll love it," Sora suddenly said.

"Me too," Yolei agreed.

Together, three sets of eyes landed on Mimi for her response. She looked back and forth until her eyes set on TK and she said, "Mhm. Kari's sure to love it."

Mimi's approval on gifts was like God's word. If she liked it then it must have been good.

"Great!" TK wasn't sure if he could have been more proud and sure of himself before this moment. With the other girl's approval he was feeling even more confident than before. "Thanks, you three. You've all been a lot of help."

"Yeah, no problem." Yolei said.

"TK," Sora called his attention to her with the serious tone her voice suddenly took on.

"Yeah?"

"You could teach your brother a thing or two about gifts."

To that, TK was a little surprised. "What do you mean?"

Sora exchanged a glance with Mimi and Yolei, who respectively added onto her earlier comment.

"And Michael."

"And Ken."

Okay, now TK found himself growing a little confused and worried.

_What could I possibly know better than three older, more…experienced guys?_

Sora sensed his confusion and offered him one of her smiles. "Let's just say that we're all pretty tired of getting the same old thing." She winked at him in a way only his older brother's girlfriend could.

Then, Mimi and Yolei chimed in in unison. "Roses." They rolled their eyes and giggled at the thought.

TK grinned along with them, enjoying two things in particular. One, he now knew that girls, at least the ones he knew, weren't big fans of the cliché flower. That would really help in later situations. And Two, if these three found roses to be typically overused, then he could only imagine the edge he had over Colin when it came to Kari.

Then again, Kari was unpredictable. Her differences shone out in a crowd. And with TK's luck, she'd be the one, out of four Digi-destined girls, who simply adored roses.

… …

He met her at their lockers between fourth and fifth period and wasn't prepared for the sudden pull in his stomach. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea? Not that it mattered anymore, because his gift was already in her locker and he couldn't take it back now.

"Hi," she greeted him as usual, unknowingly building suspense for TK as she turned in the combination of her locker.

"How's it going?" He tried to sound casual but failed miserably.

Kari opened her mouth to answer but was silenced when (as TK expected) she pulled open her locker door and the yellow bag fell straight into her hands. Eyes wide, she looked down at it with surprise written all over her face.

"What's that?" TK asked, then decided he would shut up for the rest of this because he felt he was being way too obvious.

Kari didn't even look up. She continued gazing at it while she answered, "A fanny pack." She flipped the tiny piece of paper attached to the zipper and added, "And it says it's for me."

"Does it say who it's from?"

"No…" she answered quietly, then suddenly looked up at him. "Isn't that strange?"

Choosing not to tell her it was from him was a last minute decision TK made when he stashed the gift in her locker. The idea of mystery appealed to him and to be completely honest, he wanted to be sure she liked it before owning up to anything.

"Yeah," he agreed, noticing that he was doing much better at keeping it casual. Bravely, he added, "Maybe you have a secret admirer."

Kari gazed out at nothing, deep in thought as if she were running through a list of eligible secret admirers. She was one of the few girls in the school who could do that considering how many guys were after her, but she had always been too modest to realize how desired she really was.

Slowly, she started. "Well, it couldn't be Colin because he just gave me roses."

Her voice had seemed to take on a knowing tone, but TK regarded it as his being paranoid. As clever as she was, there was no way Kari could have figured it out that fast.

"Right," TK agreed. He tried to look busy by shuffling through his locker.

"Well, whoever it was, I wish they were here right now." She said, then added with clear sincerity. "I love it."

Almost as if he had no control over his own words, TK suddenly blurted, "You love it? Like the roses you got from Joel?"

He caught her eye and noticed that she was lightly biting her bottom lip. She glanced around nervously before asking in a low voice, "Can I tell you a secret?"

TK nodded, attempting to hide his existing curiosity. "Sure."

"I didn't like the roses."

Wait, _what? _

"You-"

"I mean, the thought was so sweet of him but…" she trailed off for a moment, as if determining her choice of words. Finally, she ended with, "If you ask me, roses are kind of overrated."

TK couldn't help but grin at the irony of it all. All of the concerns plaguing him lately shouldn't have even been considered.

So, she didn't like roses after all?

The halls began emptying as more and more people made it to their classes. TK hurried to grab his things and bid Kari goodbye until next break. As they parted ways, Kari's voice prompted him to turn back around.

"By the way, TK," she called after him.

He looked back at her, noticing that she had already strapped the fanny pack onto her hips. It shouldn't have to be said that she wore it incredibly.

"I gave you the chance to fess up," she continued in the knowing voice TK had 'imagined' earlier.

"W-what are you talking about?"

She broke into a playful grin before gesturing to the fanny pack around her waist. "You're the only person in the whole school who knows my locker combination, so thanks for this. I love it."

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><p>There you have it! Short and sweet and hopefully not too bad of a job. Let me know what you think and remember to check out the RomancePrompt challenge at the following link:

.net/topic/94766/45907056/1/


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